Grapple.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER KIRRY, OF BLUE LAKE, CALIFORNIA.

G RAPPLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,700, dated February 17, 1903.

Application filed September 17, 1902. $erial No. 123,757. No nan W3 To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER KIRRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Blue Lake, in the county of Humboldt and State of California, have invented a new and useful Grapple, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in grapples, and has for its principal object to provide an improved form of grapple intended more especially for use in connection with elevated cableways for carrying logs or blocks of timber from one point and automatically discharging the same at another point, and although the device maybe used for any purpose where a grapple or pair of tongs is to be employed it is especially useful in connection with the delivery of logs to sawmills or other places.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved form of-grapple in which the parts may be adjusted to permit the engagement of the grapple with logs or other articles of varying lengths.

With these and other objects in View the invention consists in the novel construction and. arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions,

size, and minor details of the structure may be made without departingfrom the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a grapple constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view on a somewhat smaller scale, the sections of the grapple-arms being adj usted to the fullest extent to permit the en gagement of the grapple with logs of different lengths. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the grapple-teeth, illustrating the arrangement of the disengaging device. Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig. 3, illustrating a slightlymodified construction of disengaging. device; Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

While the arms of the grapple may each be formed of a single bar, it is preferred to make each arm in two or more sections in order that the distance between the pivot-point of the arm and the engaging teeth thereof may be adjusted in accordance with the size of the logs or other objects with which the grapple is to be engaged. In the present instance each arm of the grapple is formed of two sections 1 and2, the sections 1 being connected together by a pivot-bolt3, which also serves to connect said arms to the bifurcated lower end of a hanger 4, connected at its upper end to a wire rope forming part of an elevated-cableway system used to convey the logs from point to point, although in this connection it will be understood that the hanger 4 may represent any supporting device for connection with the grapple-arms and the latter used for hoisting, carrying, or other purposes without departing from the invention. Each of the sections 1 is provided with a plurality of bolt -receiving openings through which may pass a threaded bolt 5, and encircling each section 1 is a box 6, carried by or forming part of the member 2 of each grapple-arm, and the second member 2 is also provided with a bolt-receiving opening 8, which may be brought into alinement with either of the bolt-receiving openings of the section 1 to permit adjustment of the length of the arm. In Fig. 1 the guiding-boxes 6 of the sections 2 have been moved to the farthest in position in order to adjust the length of the grapple-arm for cooperation with comparatively small logs or other objects. In Fig. 2 the sections of each grapple-arm are opened out to the fullest extent for engagement with longer logs, and the sections may also be adjusted to an intermediate position, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. Each of the sections or members 2 is downwardly bent at its free end and terminates in an inwardly-extending tooth 9 for engagement with the end of the log or other object, and in use the points of the teeth are engaged slightly in the ends'of the log, and as the weight of the latter is supported bythe arms of the grapple the teeth will be entered for a distance dependent on'the weight of the object being carried, and such objects may be raised or lowered or carried along for at cableway or other support for any distance without danger of accidental disengagement.

its

In order to provide for the automatic disengagement of the teeth and the discharge of the log at any desired point, I employ a lever 10, havinga lower bifurcated end portion, of which one arm extends on each side of one of the sections or members 2 and is pivotally connected to said sectional member by a bolt 12. The free ends of the arms are rounded and so arrangedwith respect to the pointed end of the tooth that on an outward movement of the upper end of the operating-lever such rounded end portions will be forced against the ends of the log on both sides of the tooth and will gradually draw the teeth from the log, permitting the disengaged end of the log to fall, and thereby permit of its ready disengagement from the tooth at the opposite end. In order to discharge the log automatically, the operating-lever 10 is bent outwardly, so that its upper end extends in a vertical plane somewhat distant from the plane of the grapple-arms, and at the discharging-point is a projecting finger 15, supported in any suitable manner and disposed in the path of movement of the lever. As the grapple travels along in the direction of the arrow indicated at Fig. 1 this finger comes into contact with the lever and effects a movement thereof from the position indicated in full lines to that indicated in dotted lines in said figure and disengaging the grapple-tooth from the end of the log. The hanger-arm 4: is also slightly bent, as indicated at 16, to permit the passage of the grapple past the projecting finger 15.

Fig. 4 illustrates a slight modification of the construction of the disengaging-lever, said lever being in this case pivoted between a pair of lugs or brackets projecting from one of the members 2 of the grapple-arm and its lower end being connected to two arms 17, having slots 18 for the reception of the opposite ends of a pin 19, carried by the toothed portion of the section 2. The operation of this disengaging device is much the same as that previously described, except that the movement of the arm 17 is directly in the plane of the tooth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A carrying-grapple, having teeth for engaging an object to be carried, a disengaging device disposed adjacent to one of the teeth of the grapple, and means disposed in the path of movement of the grapple and adapted for contact with said disengaging device.

2. A toothed grapple, in combination with an automatic mechanism for Withdrawing one of the teeth of the grapple from the object with which it is engaged.

3. The combination with a toothed grapple,

of a lever pivotally connected to one of the grapple-arms and adapted to engage against the end of the object carried by the grapple to thereby effect the withdrawal of one of the grapple-teeth.

4. The combination with a toothed grapple, of a disengaging-lever pivotally connected in one of the grapple-arms, means for supporting and moving the grapple, and a stationary finger or lug disposed in the path of movement of the lever and adapted for contact therewith to automatically disengage the grapple-teeth.

5. The combination with a toothed grapple, of a disengaging-lever pivotally connected to one of the grapple-arms and having a rounded lower end for contact with the end of the object with which the grapple is engaged, and a finger or lug disposed in the path of move ment of said lever.

6. The combination with a toothed grapple, of an operating-lever pivotally connected to one of the grapple-arms at a point adjacent to the tooth thereof, the lower end of the lever being bifurcated and forming two arms of which one extends on each side of the tooth, the upper portion of said lever being bent outwardly and thence upwardly in a vertical plane distant from that in which the grapple-arms are situated,a movable snpporting-cable,a hanger-arm con nected thereto and pivotally connected to the grapple-arms, and a projecting finger or lug disposed in the path of movement of the upper end of said lever and adapted to engage therewith to effect the discharge of the log.

7. The combination in a grapple, of a pair of arms each formed of a plurality of sections provided with bolt-receiving openings, a box or casing carried by one section and embracing the opposite section, a bolt for locking the sections in adjusted position, and an engaging tooth disposed at the end of each of the lower sections.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

VALTER KIRRY.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. NEWELL, HUGH SMITH. 

